will include information about the process and method of transcription as
well as how readers may obtain access to the corpora. In addition, this chap-
ter will provide a brief overview of research that has already been completed
using these corpora.
Data Collection
In all three communities we aimed to collect spontaneous data based on
informal conversations between pairs of bilingual speakers. We judged that
we were more likely to obtain the kind of data we required from conversa-
tions between acquainted speakers rather than from interviews with a
stranger. This was because we expected communication between bilinguals
to be more likely to be conducted in just one language (without code-switching)
if the situation were formal. This expectation was based on observations in
the communities but also the literature on code-switching (see e.g. Jones,
1995; Zentella, 1990). The amount of conversation we aimed for varied
depending on the community and its distance from our home base in Wales.
Building Bilingual Corpora 95Figure 5.3 Map showing location of Patagonia
Source: NgMaps/National Geographic Creative